New General
by kimicatdemon
Summary: And thus the Black Mage made Luminous his new general...
1. Chapter 1

"This… can't be right…" Neinheart asked himself, reviewing his usual reports. "The Black Mage's forces are weakening around El Nath… It's still present, but not as strong as before…" He rubbed his chin. "What is he planning…?"

He met up with Cygnus and gave small discussion before a conclusion was met.

"This could be a pivotal point for us to make a comeback. We need to ensure that he does not regain any control of El Nath any more…" Cygnus stated with a determined look on her face.

Neinheart shook his head, "Alright, I will send forces down to ensure it is kept safe. " Neinheart said to himself, "but I still think it feels far too easy…"

"It may be…" Cygnus said, "But we mustn't let a chance like this slip from us!"

Neinheart followed through with the plan. It stayed quiet for a good while, even after sending the knights. But he was not ready to let his guard down yet…

A few weeks passed by… then a few months… the time flew by and there was still no sign of trouble around El Nath… It had actually gotten a little better! Then Neinheart began to see small, subtle changes throughout most of the land. The monsters on Victoria were acting a lot more peaceful than usual, The dragons were staying outside of Minar, and he had even heard story of the Black Wings being too busy to keep up with their nightly curfew limit on everyone…

Things were really starting to tip in their favor.

"There has got to be a catch… he's planning something…" Neinheart spoke with Cygnus. " But I cannot figure out what!"

Cygnus thought to herself. The sudden decrease in activity and power hinted at something, but it was still an advantage. "We… We still cannot risk him taking this back…"

"But what if that's what he wants us to do?" Neinheart sighed, "What if he wants us to separate our powers?"

Cygnus took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes… absolutely." She stood up, "Neinheart, please summon a meeting of the alliance. All of the forces you can."

"A meeting?" Neinheart asked.

Cygnus closed her eyes, "Right now, even if it is a trap, we still have the land ourselves. We need to make sure he regrets giving us this edge if it is intentional…"

With a quick nod, Neinheart took off to his office and sent out the message to all the important powers.

A few days later, they all began to gather to discuss the best way to keep their territory as peaceful as possible. The instructors from Victoria, well admired from around the world, walked in first. They all gave a deep bow to Cygnus out of respect, which she bowed in return. "I am honored you could make it."

"Of course we would arrive." Athena confirmed. "Anything for the peace of our world."

A few of their students tagged along behind them. Unlike their teachers, whom were well civilized , they seemed to take favor to bickering and arguing amongst each other. Neinheart rolled his eyes and waved his hand, "The meeting will be held in the courtyard. Please make your way there in a PEACEFUL manner." He sighed out.

Next would be the resistance. Neinheart always felt a huge pit in his stomach with them. He knew one bad showing with them would cause Cygnus their trust again, and that was something he couldn't afford. "Greetings." He started, " I hear all is well for you these days?"

"If you can say that…" Claudine sighed, "We are enjoying the slight rest, but we cannot let our guard down."

"I absolutely agree. Which is why this meeting was called to order…" Neinheart nodded. He pointed her over to the court yard. "The meeting will be over there."

The resistance made their way over. That just left "them". Neinheart felt the pit in his stomach grow even larger. It wasn't that he "hated" the heroes… It was just his childhoodself finding someone to blame for his own past actions. He gave up on believing in them, left his own sister behind, tossed everything he had for the sake of serving the empress, only for them to slowly appear before him, one by one…

Well, he couldn't exactly blame Evan, considering the child himself was new and uncertain of his standing as a hero. Neinheart almost felt bad for the child. Maybe that was just him being a big brother again. Who knew? Either way, the meeting would be soon, and he wondered which would show up…

A small, gentle breeze of wind flew throughout Ereve, almost leaving a small melody in its wake. The leaves scattered around and Mercedes appeared. "Sorry I'm late." She spoke gently, "The children were rather worked up, so I had to calm them down."

"No bother." Neinheart spoke, "The meeting has yet to begin. It will take place in the usual location."

Mercedes nodded and made her way over.

The next would be Aran. Luckily alone this time. Neinheart wasn't quite too sure how to have idle chat with them, considering his past behavior and suddenly obvious connection… or so he thought. Aran seemed suspicious, but not fully aware…

"Let's keep it that way." Neinheart thought to himself.

Evan flew up on Mir and paniced. "I-I'm not late, am I?! I really didn't mean to be late, but I got lost and-!"

"Don't worry." Neinheart calmly interrupted, "You're fine. The meeting is over in the court." He explained carefully, "Remember where that is?"

Evan's eyes tightened for a moment and then opened up. "I think so!"

"Good, then you should make your way over there." Neinheart sighed.

His eyes slammed open when Evan started to go the wrong way. "Mister Evan…." He muttered. Evan stopped and turned around with a panicked look on his face. Neinheart raised his hand and pointed the other way. "It's this way. That's towards the living dorms."

"Oh!" Evan turned bright red. He scuffled past Neinheart, with Mir flying overhead.

"I swear, that child…" Neinheart muttered as he watched him leave. He saw Evan make a slight stop and look around. "To your left!" Neinheart yelled out. "Fly on your dragon and you'll see it!"

Neinheart painfully watched Evan make some direction towards the court. He could only hope he would actually be there.

That was three… That just left two more. He knew Phantom would show up late as usual… The man always did that. And then he left as soon as he got bored. Neinheart could not think of one moment where Phantom stayed til the end after showing up late. As much as it bothered him, he couldn't say much to him. Even if he tried, Phantom would simply go to Cygnus and undo whatever action Neinheart could take. The man was clearly spoiled in all ways possible…

The last one was Luminous. Luminous was rather odd. Neinheart had only seen him once, and he didn't get to speak with him for long. Most of the meetings, he typically skipped for some reason or another. Mercedes had told Neinheart it was because Phantom and he were on some rough terms, but Neinheart was going to take a shot at this. He wrote Luminous's invite personally.

A small amount of time passed. Neinheart was able to confirm Evan made it to the court safely. He sighed. Luminous was really not going to show up again, was he?

Just when he was ready to give up on Luminous again, he heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Is the meeting in this direction?"

He turned around and saw Luminous standing before him. "Ah… yes… You received my invitation, I assume?"

"I did…" Luminous spoke as he walked by, "But I fear I cannot stay for long. Danger could linger about."

Neinheart was rather confused by that remark. Danger? What danger? He carefully watched Luminous walk to the court and decided it would be smart to keep an eye on him. "If he needs to leave, then so be it…" Neinheart sighed out. The heroes were rather unorganized…

Luminous walked carefully towards the court. It was odd being on Ereve. It was like the darkness inside of him knew exactly where he was at, and was trying to claw its way out. Luminous knew better though. He could easily hold it at bay for a while, but he was not going to test it with a figure such as Cygnus around. The first time he went to Ereve he felt a violent impulse that he had not felt in months. Although it was sudden, he somehow kept control and simply tried to avoid Ereve and the empress all together. But alas, it seemed to be of little use now.

The meeting was called to order. Luminous gave a glance around the area as Neinheart gave the opening speech to review the material that would be discussed.

"He'll be here later." Mercedes chuckled. "Neinheart knows to drag this out until Phantom shows up."

Luminous rolled his eyes slightly.

Of course, Phantom did eventually show up and made a rather flashy show about it. Luminous scourned at his appearance.

"Oh Luminous! What a surprise to see you here!" He remarked, "Finally done living like a squirrel?"

"It's a house, Phantom." Luminous remarked sharply.

"Oh yes, of course, we can always assume that…" Phantom chuckled.

Neinheart rolled his eyes at the two. It hadn't even been a full minute before the two were biting at each other. "Now on with the meeting…"

Cygnus stood up and gave a detailed explanation of the situation and the plan. Everyone listened carefully in on her plan, seeing if it would be fully applicable and if it would be safe for everyone.

As the meeting went on, Evan started to fall asleep and Phantom started to clearly get bored. "This is such a missed opportunity! Why did no one bring a pen?" Phantom asked Mercedes.

Mercedes just shrugged, trying to be as quiet as possible.

On the other hand, Luminous was starting to feel drained himself. It was going to take more effort to keep his darkness at bay. "Maybe it would be a good idea to leave and come back later." He thought to himself. He could always get the plan from Neinheart later… He had given him fair warning after all…

Luminous slowly stood up and the others watched him. "Ah? Luminous?" Mercedes asked as Luminous walked away.

"Hey now, I'm the one that leaves early!" Phantom huffed out.

Neinheart saw Luminous and the other heroes from the corner of his eye and simply let them mind their own business.

That is… until a violent wind swept through Ereve. There were brief shouts of surprise. They all looked around carefully, wondering where it came from.

Mercedes jumped up. She knew that wind all too well. "He's near…" She said to herself.

And it couldn't have been at a worse time for Luminous. The empress and Shinsoo were already making his darkness riled up, but with this sudden addition of dark powers added in the area, he felt overwhelmed. He slumped on the ground, grabbing a nearby chair for support.

"Luminous?" Mercedes and Phantom jumped over and tried to ease him over, realizing something was actually wrong. She closed in on Luminous's ear. "Luminous, does this… have to do with that?" She said, looking at his red eye.

Luminous simply looked at her. He couldn't muster enough courage to say that the darkness was starting to get violent and worked up. He was supposed to be a master of it!

"Wha-?" Evan woke up out of shock.

"Something's going on…" Aran spoke, holding their weapon tightly.

Evan let out a small sob, "I hate it when things happen…"

Cygnus stood alert. Her knights stood even closer. Everyone else in the court was ready to strike at anything out of the ordinary.

A laugh was heard from above.

They all looked up and saw him. The terror they all feared.

"What's he doing here?!" Claudine yelled.

"How did he break through the barrier?!" Neinheart asked himself, trying to think of an answer. Then an all too familiar face appeared behind beside the Black Mage.

"Heyo, Monocle boy." Eleanor waved her hand. "it's been a good while, has it not?"

"I should have figured YOU'D be involved with any barrier breaching tactics…" Neinheart retorted back.

"Cool it." Eleanor spoke. "We're not here for fun and games."

Cygnus blinked. She didn't budge a bit. What were they after? They weren't the sort to play games to start with, but this time seemed like business. Enough for the Black Mage to show up himself.

He waved his hands up and sent the people of the court across the room. The counter attack started instantly, with attacks from all directions flying around. Phantom and Mercedes looked at Luminous, whom seemed to have regained his composure a bit. "Are you going to be okay…?" Mercedes asked.

"I should be alright…" Luminous said blankly. "_I guess I can vent some of this off." _Luminous thought to himself. He could feel his inner rage brewing at the mere sight of the Black Mage.

Mercedes waved her hand at Phantom, "You've got good eyes. Keep an eye on him. I'll cover Evan and Aran." She muttered quietly.

Phantom sighed, "Always tagged with Luminous, eh?" He chuckled before standing up, "Alright, let's start a good show, shall we?" he twirled his cane and grasped it firmly, letting the wind flare his cape up in a rather fashionable manner.

The heroes jumped in the fight quickly, and it was easily noticed. They were able to easily dodge the Black Mage's attacks, and counter them.

"Incredible…!" Claudine said to herself as she watched them. The battle seemed to be easily going in their favor when sudden string appeared and held Cygnus and her main knights captive. "Ah?!"

Everyone stopped and turned their eyes to Cygnus. Francis appeared behind them and chuckled a bit. "Sorry Cygnus, but rules are rules!"

"Unhand her!" Phantom yelled as he rushed to the puppeteer.

"No! Especially not if you want it! Do you know how much trouble you put me in?!" Francis yelled while teleporting to a safe distance.

"Like I care…" Phantom huffed.

There was a deep laugh from the Black Mage as he clenched his hand into a tight fist. Chains spurred from the ground and wrapped around Luminous.

"Eh?!" Mercedes looked at Luminous. "Luminous!"

Luminous squirmed around, "…Tch… They are too restricting. I can't move!" He yelled back.

Phantom cursed himself for leaving Luminous open like that. Francis let out a chuckle, released Cygnus from his grasp and vanished into thin air. "What?" Phantom's eyes opened up even more. Was the plan to leave Luminous out in the open?!

His mind raced back to Luminous's behavior right before this event… Did that have something to do with this? "Luminous hang on!" Phantom's eye glowed as he memorized a useful sword technique. He turned his cane into a heavy sword and ran quickly towards Luminous, building up momentum for a heavy blow, only to be deflected by Eleanor's magic.

"Tsk tsk… You left him up and dry, sweetie, so we picked him up. You can't come running back, that's not how things work."

Aran ran up to Eleanor and sent out a strong yet chilling attack her way. Eleanor jumped to dodge the ice, letting it freeze the chains instead. "Hold still!" Aran yelled out.

"You must be really dumb if you think I'm going to listen to that." Eleanor rolled her eyes.

The Black mage approached Luminous slowly, making Eleanor's barrier strong enough to prevent any entry around Luminous.

"What do you want?" Luminous growled. His eyes were wide and held slight fear, but the anger inside of him was clearly present.

"Ah, you act far too hasty…" The Black Mage chuckled. "But I suppose we should talk where it is a bit quieter?"

There was a large flash of black magic in the court and suddenly… they were gone. The Black Mage, Eleanor, and Luminous… all gone.

"Luminous?!" Mercedes yelled out.

Phantom's eyes widened in horror. He had gotten so worked up about protecting Cygnus, whom was clearly safe from her knights, that he left Luminous in danger… And he was the target all along! "I don't understand…" Phantom said, "Why would he target Luminous like this?"

Mercedes dashed over to Phantom to ensure his well being and sighed, "Do you think it had to do with 'that'?"

Phantom shook his head, "I don't see why it would! That's silly!"

Evan blinked from a distance… What was this 'that'?

Far away though, Luminous found himself in a dark location. The chains were gone, but he was stuck in a room with no chance of escape. He kicked the door once again, hoping to break it down… No luck.

He sighed and looked around. There had to be a way out…

While looking at the walls, he heard the door open. He turned around quickly and shrieked back like a scared cat. The Black Mage was right in front of him, and he had nothing. "What do you want?!" He yelled.

The Black Mage laughed a bit, "You act with such haste."

"Sorry, I am not one for idle chat." Luminous retorted.

The mage approached the Luminous slowly and looked at him carefully. "You have taken to my powers quite nicely…"

Luminous growled a bit. Was that what this was about? "Heh, if you thought a curse like that could stop me, you are mistaken. I have taken your powers and used them for the benefit of others."

The Black Mage looked at Luminous. "For others? Let me guess… from the kindness of your heart?" His face turned sour. "Honestly, I would expect you to learn to discard that useless thing at some point."

"My heart is far from useless." Luminous clenched his hands. "It has given me the power to overcome your curse and I have no doubts it will help me overcome you."

"Can you honestly say that?" He laughed, "My magic is one thing, but do not forget… your heart was once my own…"

Luminous's eyes widened a bit and he stepped back a small bit. He was aware… Not that it should be surprising, but he was hoping that it could remain a secret a bit longer.

"Ah, you seem surprised?" He smirked, "I could tell my 'light' was still around, even after I killed that on wench."

"Don't you DARE speak ill of Lucia!" Luminous snapped. He could practically feel his blood starting to boil.

"I wasn't too surprised. She seemed like too easy of a target…" He muttered, "However, I never expected it to be…" his eyes moved up and down, "…You."

Luminous regained his composure and gave a small smirk. "Well I didn't exactly see it coming myself, so it was a surprise for both of us."

The mage waved his hand around, "Enough talk though… I have an offer…" He walked up face to face with Luminous, if not a bit taller… "I want you to join me as one of my generals."

"And if I refuse?" Luminous scorned. No way would he ever agree to THAT.

The Black Mage smiled, "Oh, I don't think you'll be able to resist." He lifted his hand up and swirls of black magic through his fingers. "I know you and your 'heart' all too well… You have a strong sense of what is right and wrong, but the darkness inside of you has a strong lust for power." He placed his hand on Luminous's head quickly, yet softly, letting the magic from his fingers pour on to Luminous. "And as a part of me, my limits are your own! Do you not FEEL the power you are capable of wielding?"

Luminous couldn't hear the question. The instant the magic entered his system, he felt something odd. It wasn't painful in any way, but it really dulled his senses. He felt like he was in a trance, staring at nothing, hearing nothing, simply feeling the magic in his body. And did it feel powerful. He had never felt anything close to it before!

The Black mage gently lifted his hand off of Luminous's head. "Well, feel any better?"

Luminous remained standing in a trace for a moment. The effect washed off quickly and he looked at the Black Mage. He wanted to tell him no. He wanted to reject it fully… but something in him had stirred. It was up and running around inside of him, seeking the power it just felt. He stood for a moment, trying to fight that urge away… but it refused. It grew louder and louder by every second.

"Don't worry. Lock your heart out." The Black mage spoke calmly. "Think with your mind… your instinct. If you remove the black and white concept of good and evil, what is it that you desire?"

Luminous tried to think. He wanted to say peace. He wanted nothing more than a simple, peaceful life. Without the need to fight. But then there was that half. The half that he had accepted and made a part of him. The evil, ugly half that wanted power. "I… I… Don't…." He couldn't choose. The two halves in him were fighting again. His head suddenly hurt again. It hurt just like that day…

"You think too much." The Black Mage laid a hand on his shoulder, "I know what you want, and I can give it all to you."

Luminous slapped his hand off his shoulder and fell back against the wall, clinging to his head. What was he supposed to do? The Black Mage stirred his darkness up on purpose. He didn't have anyone to turn to for help. He was alone in a room with the Black Mage with no defense…

"_If you had enough power, this would never happen!" _ A voice rang in his head.

"_No, you don't want this!" _Another spoke clearly.

Luminous held his head tightly. He didn't like this. Last time this headache came around, darkness won out. He couldn't afford for darkness to win. Not right now.

The Black Mage let out a small satisfied smile before lowering down to Luminous's level and placing his hand on his head again, letting a small amount of power alleviate his headache.

Luminous's eyes opened and looked at the Black Mage. "Honestly…" The Mage looked at him. Luminous noticed for the first time how… human the Black Mage suddenly looked… "If you were once part of me and I truly desire power, what do you think your heart desires?"

Luminous felt himself slip into a light trace again. He was at least able to acknowledge what was being said to him this time.

The Black Mage slipped his hand to the side of Luminous's face. "We are strong on our own, but together, we are the very thing that fate fears. Worry not about your heart or 'good and bad'… worry about deciding your own fate!"

The Black Mage watched as both of Luminous's eyes sunk into a deep red color. Black magic wrapped his body slowly, changing his white robed into a dark black.

The Black Mage set Luminous back against the wall where the magic continued to flow over him. "I will be back soon…" He said, "I hope you do not disappoint me." He stated as he walked out of the small room, ensuring the door was shut on his way out.


	2. Chapter 2

"Boring!" Hilla whined in the small lab. "You honestly expect me to just 'up and leave'?"

Eleanor looked at the red haired shamaness and sneered. "It would be preferable in any situation. You generals are nothing but trouble…"

"Correct me if I am wrong, but you were working with Orchid, right?" Hilla gave a slight grin of victory.

Rolling her eyes, Eleanor looked up from her book and at Hilla. "Reluctantly. Ever since the Black mage was sealed, we have not had much place to go. We found her and her… 'organization' and figured we'd at least use it as a hide out of our own. We didn't tend to get along though…"

"Ha!" Hilla laughed a bit, "Well, no worries now? Since that scientist fellow took over, all he cares about it his little toys." Hilla started to toss a small orb around. "I can certainly understand the sentiment."

"Then can you understand the need to be left alone? I'm trying to do research." Eleanor huffed.

Hilla gave a sly smile, "Oh? Over what? Any certain topics?"

"None of your business. Unlike you generals, we mages are completely loyal to the Black Mage and his ideals. I want nothing to do with you."

Hilla chuckled. "Fine. Have it your way." She stood up from her chair and started to make her way to the door.

"What are you scheming?" Eleanor grumbled. She wasn't that dumb. She knew Hilla wouldn't leave that easily without some kind of a back up plan.

"Ohhh…" Hilla started innocently, "I figure there was another mage in on this plan. I'm sure he could talk a small bit."

"Francis?" Eleanor laughed, "The child was only told to hold Cygnus down until we had Luminous in our grasp. Nothing more."

"So we do have a guest here." Hilla sat down. Now she was starting to get to where she wanted.

Eleanor rolled her eyes and closed her book. "_I swear… The things I do to keep that child out of trouble…"_ She stood up and walked over in front of Hilla, leaning on the table. "What all do you want to know?"

"Well, as much as possible would be nice." Hilla teased. "So Lumi boy is our guest huh? I would have preferred Phantom, but I guess he's not too bad."

"You have preference?" Eleanor laughed.

"When it comes to who I want to torture most, yes." Hilla laughed. "If I learned just the right spell, I could give him a 'sweet' reunion with his Aria."

Eleanor rolled her eyes, "You mean by sticking her in one of those hideous skeletons?"

"Well… They aren't exactly meant to function on appearance." Hilla smirked. "So… Why Luminous?"

Eleanor shrugged. "That… I don't know… His majesty seemed focused on Luminous to begin with." She rubbed her chin, "It may have something to do with his 'corruption' but…"

"But?" Hilla's eyes grew confused.

"Why not just corrupt and easier target? Not saying Luminous was difficult… The Black Mage knew that Luminous would have a hard time keeping his darkness in check and fighting on Ereve. His hatred for the empress runs down to the very pore."

Sitting for a while, Hilla tried to think of a conclusion. She didn't find any that would make sense… Why did he choose Luminous?

"Regardless…" Eleanor started up, "We were ordered to aid in capturing Luminous for his own needs. I have no idea what he wants with him. I just follow orders."

Hilla huffed and pouted a bit. It opened up more questions than answers. "Fine… I suppose I'll just have to wait." She leaned back in the chair. "Honestly, what goes through his head sometimes? I'm a clear sign that the years can let you keep a clear mind, but still…"

Eleanor rolled her eyes and began to walk back to her seat. "Yeah… Clear mind." She sat back down, "If you will pardon me, I have much to do."

"So stingy." Hilla remarked with her calm face. "You should really try to get out a bit more."

"You should take your job seriously." Eleanor barked.

"I'm not the one being defeated by low ranking knights." Hilla smirked.

Eleanor took a deep breath and gave a dark glare towards Hilla. She exhaled and looked back down, deciding to ignore the red head. "_Spoiled brat…." _Eleanor though to herself.

In a different room though, Luminous's eyes slammed open. He stared at the ceiling for a small amount of time, trying to come to grasp with what was going on.

The first thing he recalled was being captured by the Black Mage... Then he recalled being tossed in here and trapped… Finally…

He felt an indescribable amount of rage wash over him. He sat up quickly and looked around. There had to be something he could vent some of this anger out on. That's all he cared for right now. Getting this anger out of his system.

He stood up and made his way to the door. "Tch… This door is a nuisance." He placed his hand on the door and allowed black magic to flow into it at a quick pace, causing it to fly off the hinges into the wall across. Luminous stepped out and looked around with a fierce glare. There was some random lackey dressed in formal Black Wing attire on the ground. He approached them quickly and kneeled down to his eye level.

"Tell me…" He started, "Where are my weapons?"

The man shook his head, "I … I don't…"

Luminous grabbed his arm and twisted it, letting a small crack and a loud scream fill the room. He went in closer, "Do not make me repeat myself. Where are they?"

"In the chest! In the chest!" The man cried. He lifted his free arm and pointed over to a chest with a sob. "I…I have the keys! Please let go!" he cried.

Luminous let go and held his hand out, "Give them to me."

The man frantically moved his hands to his side and held his hand out, laying the keys in his hands.

Luminous rose and began to walk over to the chest when the man tried to run off. "Where are you going?" Luminous's eye began to glow. "Do you think I am going to be as pitiful to allow the ones that captured me off easily?" An empty magic filled the room and surrounded the man. A loud scream was heard before the man vanished entirely.

Luminous turned back to the chest and opened it up. He picked his weapons up, noting how his orb shined with a strong darkness. His eyes slammed open. He clutched his head and began to grasp what was actually happening.

The darkness had grasp on him once again. It was stronger this time though… He could feel it. He leaned back against a wall, trying to calm himself down. He looked down at his hands, which were shaking too much to even hold his rod. Then he noticed his clothes…

"Did I change clothes?" He thought to himself. "No… No they're the same… but… different…"

And somehow, this made him even angrier. He couldn't shake it off. He was supposed to be the master of light and dark, but right now, the darkness was pulling him around like a puppet. It really pissed him off.

"That bastard." Luminous stood up; rage filling his eyes again, "He's the one that did this! He is responsible for this!" He stormed out of the room. He didn't care how much he had to destroy; he would make sure he could encounter the Black Mage once again.

He started with the hallway. All he did was wave his rod slightly and a huge explosion destroyed the room behind him. Luminous turned around. "I… I have that much power?" He told himself. He looked at his rod and slowly began to laugh madly.

"What an idiot. He must have some kind of death threat to make my dark powers even stronger!" He continued to walk forward, destroying everything behind him.

"Come on out, Black Mage! I know you're here!" He yelled out loud. "Or did you flee like a coward?"

Eventually he felt sick. He stuck his rod into the ground and leaned on it for support. "No… No… Just… leave…" He tried to tell himself. "I…" He huffed out, "I am the master… You listen to me!" Luminous yelled out bluntly, as if he were trying to order someone around.

But there was no one… The noise and explosions had scared everyone off. Luminous was by himself, with nothing more than his darkness to keep him company.

He looked up and stood up straight, letting a laugh escape him. His eyes were wide and bewildered as he looked off to the side. "When I get my hands on him, I'm going to tear his guts out."

Luminous slammed his hand on the ground and watched the room collapse around him. "I'm getting TIRED of SEARCHING."

As if he was heard, a chilling air covered the area. Luminous covered his face for a quick moment, only to uncover it with the Black Mage standing before him.

It was odd… uncanny even… His face was a bit longer, his eyes were smaller, but there were certain similar traits shared between the two. "I see you're doing better…" The Black Mage remarked calmly, noting the destruction.

"Never better." Luminous held his shining rod out, "Face me!"

The Black mage waved his hand and summoned a chair. "I summoned you here so that we may talk. Not to fight."

"I'm not one for idle chat." Luminous sneered.

"Then I shall continue on my own…" The Black Mage chuckled.

Luminous growled before lashing a strong attack towards the Black Mage. The Black mage lifted his hand up and waved it, scattering the magic completely. "Do not be foolish, child." He scorned.

Luminous stood in shock. Even after the boost he received, was the difference that great? …No… No it couldn't be… He just didn't have control over his new power yet!

"I take it you're enjoying your new powers?" The Black Mage laughed.

Luminous could only manage a stare. The feelings of anger and hatred washed over him, clouding his mind away from any sort of peace. Being in "his" presence like this only brought out the worst of him. And right now, he didn't care.

"I brought you here for a very simple reason. I am going to assume you remember ?"

"You want me to join you, but I'd much rather cut your head off."

The Black mage chuckled. Seeing Luminous, a man regarded as a hero and a powerful mage of light, act out of sheer anger amused him. He wanted to see him get mad… He wanted his anger to flow throughout his body, not allowing anything else to take its place. Especially not any pesky light. He could not do away with Luminous's heart, but he could surely corrupt it beyond repair. "Do you honestly think you can defeat me right now?"

He had him there. Luminous had already seen him tear through an attack like paper. He was sure he could do it again.

"You could be stronger… You could be much stronger…" The Black mage began to walk a small circle around Luminous, eyeing him up and down. The darkness had corrupted him nicely. It was rather apparently he was under its influences much more this time, but he had noticed Luminous's behavior before his appearance… He was far from fully corrupted. "After all, you come from me. I think I should help give you a good name. It would reflect poorly on me if you were this weak."

"I don't need help from you." Luminous barked out.

"Can you say that?" The Black Mage walked up to Luminous and looked him straight in the eyes, "You can only learn how to balance your power so much on your own. You need to focus on making yourself stronger. As one whom has embraced the dark, I can help this power of yours. I can teach you to be much more than you are."

Luminous looked at him. He blinked calmly and smirked, "What? You want to make me stronger so I can actually kill you?"

"Perhaps…" The Black Mage took a step back. "I would prefer to win your favor at some point. Having you as any value of a rival is… undesirable."

"Undesirable, eh?" Luminous laughed, "What? Do I scare you or something?"

"Scare? No… Bother? Yes." The Black Mage started to walk around the room, hand raised in a lecture like manner. "Years ago, if the prophecy was fulfilled, this world would have been long gone." He sighed, "I stalled Aran, distracted Phantom, defeated Mercedes, and weakened Freud… They should have fallen at this point, but there was one more…"

"Me?" Luminous interrupted.

"Yes…" The Black Mage spoke in a displeased manner. "You… You, the one that should not even exist. The one that was born through weak pity."

"Are you calling me weak?" Luminous growled.

The Black Mage stopped and thought for a moment. "No… My former self was weak at that time." He looked at Luminous, "I tried so hard to crush the crystal you were in… I had embraced the darkness… The last thing I had to do was defeat my light once and for all, and I would have been invincible!" His voice rose into frustration. He then calmed himself back to his usual tone, "There would have been no way to defeat me years ago, but I made it happen…"

Luminous finally took a seat in the chair the Black Mage summoned and gave a satisfied grin, "It isn't my fault you shot yourself in the foot. You should have thought about that before you killed everyone in Aurora."

The Black Mage felt odd looking at Luminous. He hated that smug look on his face, but at the same time, savored it nicely. "Perhaps. But I saw them as people that would become a burden." He walked over to Luminous and held his hand out. "I know it sounds a bit odd to you, but I ask only for a chance to prove myself to you. I would much rather have us argue on the same side of the battle than on different ends."

Luminous looked at his hand and laughed, "What? You think THAT little speech is going to convince me any?"

The Black mage thought for a moment. "No… You are right… I come with a weak offer. Usually my 'generals' come to me in search of power… " He gave a cold smile, "So I shall rework my offer: I help you become stronger. I will not say how much stronger, that will be up for you to discover… but I will make you strong enough to be a great general on my side. It will certainly be more than you have ever been in possession of."

The Black Mage looked at Luminous's face. His eyes showed defiance, but the lust for power was stronger than before. He was not sure if this was because of his presence on the matter, but it mattered not… All the mattered was that he would agree on his little…

"Deal." Luminous slapped his hand on the Black Mage's. "I'll play your little lackey for a while… at least until I'm strong enough to tear you apart."

"I do hope you don't plan on being considered a hero for that." The Black Mage chuckled.

"Who cares about being a hero?" Luminous's eye began to glow again, "I only want one thing and that's to be the strongest man standing. This includes you."

The Black Mage lowered his hand. "Good… Then we should start with a simple test."

"A test? What kind of test are we talking about here?" Luminous sneered.

"A simple test to see if you are currently strong enough to work outside of supervision." The Black Mage started up, "It's not much. I simply do not want you to get any weaker…"

Luminous stared at the Black Mage. "You mean switching sides?"

"Hmph." He was caught. Not that it mattered. "I want you to go to Leafre and destroy one of the dragon eggs they keep there."

"Huh?" Luminous raised his eyebrow a bit, "You want me to get rid of a dragon egg?"

"It sounds easy, but their shells are hard to crack…" He explained, "Any dragon with humans will be a tiresome threat. They are too advanced in magic. It is best to strike them young."

"Seems boring." Luminous remarked.

"You'll find Leafre's defenses to be …amusing…" The Black Mage stated.

"Fair enough." Luminous got up from the chair. "If this ends up being too boring, I am not to be pleased."

"I would hardly send a good general out on a lowly task." The Black Mage replied. "Come… I will send you off on your way." The Black Mage walked slowly into a small black portal he created.

Luminous watched the chair he crafted from magic vanish into smoke, shrugged, and followed him in.

Maybe the lure of true power was too tempting for him after all…


	3. Chapter 3

The two walked into a room. It was large and empty, but the darkness swirling in the room was obvious. "Heh… is this your lair these days?" Luminous laughed.

"I suppose. One in my standing can't exactly be upfront and stand out."

Luminous began to wonder if he would stand out like this. He remembered the look on his face and his appearance from before. The darkness had not just taken over this time… it had consumed him. He knew one thing… he should have felt pain…regret wouldn't even seem too bad. He was almost scared of himself, but not enough… "So you want me to get rid of some eggs?"

"Yes…" The Black mage started up, "It should be a simple task if you are truly strong enough… well… simple enough."

Luminous looked at the Black Mage. "Hmm? What do you mean? I'm not one to deal with simple task. Give me something worth my time or I'll leave."

The Black Mage waved his hand and a large shadowed hole appeared in the air, showing an egg in it, akin to a reflection. "This will be your target…"

"Okay…" Luminous sighed, "Just an egg. And I assume the halfing furballs will be there for me to kick around?"

"Of course…" The Black Mage chuckled. "There may also be a bit more… Maybe…"

Luminous figured there was something not being told to him. Oh well… as easy as this sounded, a bit of surprise may make his job a bit more exciting.

With a small wave of his hand, two reaper like figures appeared behind Luminous. "These two will be your… monitors. They will not aid nor help you in anyway, however, if you falter or fail, I will be informed."

"Heh." Luminous chuckled, "Who are you trying to fool? You don't want me having change of heart last second, do you?"

The Black Mage stood quiet, staring at Luminous.

"Well, with the little boost of darkness you were dumb enough to give me; I don't see any reason to go back to the light." He chuckled. "I'll give you that. Darkness feels much more endless than light." He tapped his rod a few times, "but I think I'll keep in touch with a few light skills… you know… just in case." He calmly turned around, "After all, there has to be some difference between us if our powers are going to be the same."

"You make a valid point." He laughed, "But don't expect to reach my level any time soon."

Luminous began to walk forward, "I'll be off then… Care to lead the way? I'm not one for wasting time."

The Black mage opened a portal. The two reaper figures vanished and Luminous walked into the portal calmly. On the other side, he took note of his exact location. Right outside the city.

Without the darkness in the area, Luminous could feel his inner light trying to fight back. "Heh…" He chuckled. The light was so weak… There was no way it could win. "Well… Let's begin shall we?"

Luminous walked casually down the forest path, not even worried of what was about to occur. He was actually feeling invigorated over it. He wanted something exciting to happen. What good was all this power if he was only going to kick around some balls of fur? He needed something more than that…

After a short while, he stood on a cliff and stared at the town below. The egg would be in this town, protected in one of these houses… He chuckled darkly. He wasn't one to waste time. He wanted to get the job done. Instead of wasting time on hide and seek, he figured it would just burn it all down.

He teleported off, preparing for his first strike…

In the town though, Evan was sitting with Mir, trying to read one of the books the halflingers had lended him. "Ehh…" Evan sighed, "I'm not a big fan of reading fancy books…"

"Master!" Mir spoke, "They said there could be knowledge on how to make me stronger in here though!"

Evan chuckled, "Yeah… that's true…" Evan looked at the book again. He really did not look forward to this, but if it helped Mir, then he would gladly give it his best.

Skimming the pages, he tried to find the easiest word linked to Mir: onyx. He was about done skimming through half the book when a loud noise rang across the town, with massive wind sweeping the streets. There were screams filling the air and Evan saw people slowly jump into panic mode if they weren't already there. "What was that?"

"I don't know…" Mir growled, "But I'm sensing some mean magic near by."

"So it was magic?" Evan blinked. He took a gulp. Who could it possibly be? Technically he was a guest in the town, so fleeing would be okay… but…

"Master, we have to do something! These people help other dragons!" Mir spoke to Evan.

Evan gave a nervous nod and ran towards where the noise erupted. On his way over, another large noise was made, but this time, there was the faint sound of metal winding down… Like…. chains? Evan grabbed his small wand at his side and prepared himself to face whatever was causing this mess.

"Hey!" He yelled out around the debris of the first hut. "What do you think you're doing?!" Evan shouted, hoping someone would reply.

At first, there wasn't a reply. But the attacker did help themselves to crushing another hut down. Evan watched it happen with his own eyes this time… Chains of darkness rose out of the ground rapidly, snaring themselves over the hut and slamming it to the ground. They were completely ruined afterwards.

"Hey! Stop that!" Evan spoke even louder, hoping for a reaction. "Mir, where are they at?"

"Close… I can't feel their exact location though…" Mir looked around frantically.

"You know, it's rather foolish to barge into battle wrecklessly." Luminous spoke with a heavy snark. "Stay back and you might not get hurt."

Evan felt his body freeze over. His eyes widened and shock took over his body. The man in front of him… it looked like Luminous… It was his exact spitting image… but he was completely dark. His sole blue eye had turned into a dark shade of red. Darker than what his red eye usually was. His white robes and white hair had also fallen dark… No matter how Evan looked at him, it was like a Luminous without the presence of light. "Lu-Luminous?"

"Who else could I possibly be?" He remarked calmly. "Unless…" he chuckled, "Is the change a bit much?"

"We-Well I wouldn't… I wouldn't expect to see you like this!" Evan spoke nervously, hoping there was a good reason for Luminous's actions. "B-But why are you attacking these guys? They're not the enemy!"

Luminous stayed quiet for a bit before tapping his rod on the ground and smashing another hut in. "Sorry, Evan… I'm here on some business…" he picked his rod up and tapped it on his shoulder, "Luckily, that don't involve you at the moment…"

"Business?" Evan jumped, "What kind of business has you doing this?!"

Luminous gave a smile. A very scary smile. His face twisted in ways Evan didn't know possible. The usually calm Luminous looked insane. "That." he chuckled, "Isn't something for a kid to know."

The line of fear and confusion blended for Evan. He was scared. Luminous was scaring him. He was different, and Evan didn't understand why. He was confused. Luminous was supposed to be a friend right? He was glad to see he was still alive after being kidnapped by the Black mage, but clearly something was wrong. "What… What did he do to you?"

"Heh… I'd stop asking questions unless you want to face the consequences. This will be your last warning." Luminous snarled. "I'm here on business, not here to chat." He destroyed another hut with ease.

"Stop that!" Evan yelled, "Stop it! I don't understand! Why are you doing this?! They're our friends right?! What did the Black Mage do to you?! What did he say?!" Evan was on the brink of tears once more.

With a quick movement of his hand, Luminous shot out a large sum of magic towards Evan and sent him flying back. Mir quickly glided behind and caught him safely.

Evan stood back up and looked at Luminous, fully acknowledging that Luminous was not here on friendly terms.

"He didn't tell me anything." Luminous started to casually walk forward, "He didn't have to even try that hard. All he did was give me a 'small' boost of power…"

"Small?" Evan highly doubted a small bit of dark magic would alter Luminous the way it did. He had trained long and hard to have the darkness under his control. A small amount would be nothing to him.

"Hmm…" Luminous thought, "I guess you could say on the grand scale of things, it's small."

Evan took a small gulp before talking again. "So… he just gave you a bunch of dark powers? So… you can just wear it out! You can exhaust it and you'll be back to-!"

Evan found himself flung back with a much stronger force. It send Mir and him flying into a large tree. Mir was big enough to cause it to collapse instantly.

"Who says I want to go back?" Luminous chuckled. "I go back and give this up?"

Mir crawled up himself and growled. Evan sat up next to Mir and placed his hand on his face to calm him down. He turned over to Luminous, "You think that power is more important than helping others? What ever happen to the Luminous that would fight for the good of things?"

Luminous stayed quiet and stared at Evan. "He's still here…" He calmly spoke. There was a weak sense of pain in his words. "He's still around… I can't get rid of him…"The pained look on his face turned to insanity once again, "But I can EASILY keep him at bay by tearing him down." Luminous held his staff and pointed it at Evan, "Hmph… An egg… that's the dumbest target I've ever heard. I think I'll choose you as my target instead, dragon master."

Evan gulped. There was no way he could fight Luminous… But he couldn't leave the town to crumble either.

Fight or flight. It was one of the two and he needed to decide now. He looked at his wand and held it out in a prepared to attack manner. "Enough!" He yelled. One more… one more try… He would try once more to call out to Luminous. "Please…" Evan begged, his hands were shaking has they held his wand. "I don't want to fight you… But… I don't want to see this place hurt either!" He gasped, "I don't… I don't understand. Why are you doing this? Why are you working with him? For power?! Is it really worth that much to you?"

Luminous walked over to Evan. He held the small boys chin with his hand and looked him in the eyes. "Of course it is." he flinged Evan's head back. He stood up began to walk into town. "Maybe because you're a child… No matter… My job here is not with you… I will show you mercy only this once." Luminous began to walk away.

Evan let out a sob. How could he fix this? Was he really going to be this much of a coward? Mir let out a small whine and nudged Evan. "D-Don't worry… Maybe he's just having a bad day?"

Looking ahead, Evan watched another house crumble. "he's going to ruin it all, Mir…"

Mir whined a bit more. "What can we do? He's our friend…"

Evan heard the noise of another house fall. He was getting further into town…

"Stop him!" A voice rang throughout the town. "He's getting close to the eggs! If he crushes the huts with them inside..!"

Evan realized what his goal was. His goal was to destroy the eggs. Luminous was going to murder all the baby dragons before their birth! He looked at Mir and thought back to the day he found his egg… What would have happened had it been crushed? Would Evan had ever left his farm? Would he remain in place forever? He shook his head and placed his hand on Mir. "No… That won't happen." He jumped up. "We gotta save those eggs!"

Mir flew up and let out a small clicking noise. "If you're going to fight him…" He started, "I'll be right with you, master!"

Evan nodded and jumped on top of Mir's head. The two flew quickly into the town and caught up with Luminous. There was no time for words now. Luminous was clearly not going to listen. Evan took his wand and held it out straight, directing an attack at Luminous.

Mir felt the order command without a word and let out whips of fire at the mage. Luminous turned around quickly and teleported to a safe distance.

Evan jumped on to the ground and gave a serious look. "I'm still a hero. I have a big responsibility." Evan said. "I can't let you do what you want!"

The air was quiet. Some dust was slowly settling, but there wasn't a noise to be heard… Until a small chuckle was heard.

Luminous was letting a small laugh escape him, slowly escalating into mad laughter. "You have NO idea how happy you just made me, Evan. I was beginning to think this would be too simple of a task!" He spoke with glee. He raised his rod up above his shoulders and his orb became a black void. With a wave of his wand, he send it towards Evan.

Evan jumped on Mir's back with speed and flew up high. It didn't help much though… The void was following him around. "Mir!" Evan yelled out.

"On it!" Mir's eyes glowed and the two vanished in a flash, reappearing back on the ground, some distance away from Luminous.

Luminous wasted little time. Evan watched large rocks of black magic form above his head. He split up with Mir, letting the rocks slam to the ground. Mir teleported quickly behind Evan and lashed out a strike of lighting at Luminous. A large cloud of dust rose from the surface. Evan stood up and stared quietly at the direction Luminous was last seen.

"I didn't hit him too hard." Mir said quietly.

Evan took a small bit of comfort in that fact and hoped he would remain okay. He hoped that maybe Mir could throw Luminous into enough shock and he would snap out of what ever had a hold of him. Luminous wasn't like this… He knew better. He may not know Luminous that well, but he could always turn to him when he needed help with magic or any kind of advice.

The dust slowed down a bit, the horizon was becoming slightly more visible. Evan tried to find anything that looked like a body, but had little luck. He took a small step forward, looking carefully for Luminous.

A loud noise below him gave him the signal that it wasn't over yet. A large blast of energy shot up from the ground and threw Evan in the air. Evan landed on the ground next to Mir, whom was growling fiercely. Evan looked up and saw Luminous standing before him, his appearance unchanged, save for a few new cuts and some blood dripping from his forehead.

"I'm getting annoyed with this." Luminous spoke in a monotone voice. His expression was hard for Evan to define with words. It looked blank, but it felt angered… It was as if Luminous's anger had reached the breaking point and shattered his capability to show it. Luminous slammed his rod on the ground once again and summoned several dark chains, tying Evan and Mir to the ground.

Evan tried to break free. He moved around, but the chains got tighter and tighter, finding a way to cut into his skin at places. It hurt. It really hurt.

Mir was more focused on trying to help Evan. He took his wings and stretched them out. He slammed his body on the ground and tried to force himself up with body support and with his wings. He felt himself lift off the ground, just enough to lift the chains off of Evan, whom rolled free the instant he had the chance. Before Mir was allowed to escape himself, Luminous increased the amount and their pressure, slamming the dragon back into the dirt. The fall was a lot messier this time, leaving Mir laying on his side, unable to see Evan.

"Mir!" Evan yelled out.

Luminous approached Mir. "My goal was to defeat a dragon egg that could hatch into a problem, but I don't exactly feel like taking out a weak target." He slammed his rod on to Mir's nose, who let out a loud scream, "A living target is much more enjoyable."

Evan ran up to Luminous and tried to pull him away from Mir, "Leave him alone!" He yelled loudly.

Luminous only responded with punching the air out of Evan. Evan fell to the ground, grasping his stomach. Luminous looked back at Mir, "So, I wonder how different from other dragons you are…" He started walking around Mir. "Your scales are fairly large and strong, but where you have small scales or none seem to be every dragon's weak point." He tapped his rod against Mir's chest. "It's just a matter of how long you can last!" Luminous said before throwing a large sum of black magic towards the dragon. Mir let out a loud cry and tried to flail free, but the chains were much too strong. The attack stopped with Luminous laughing, "What? You can't even tolerate a bit of this? Heh… Must be stronger than I thought." Luminous looked at his hand.

Mir took a moment to gaze over at his master. Although Evan was not directly being hit, the pact made him aware of Mir's pain. With all of his own damage plus that, Evan looked awful. He wasn't a fighter. He couldn't stand long on his own, much less fight alone. If Mir took too much damage, it could really start to hurt Evan. A scratch for Mir could be a big deal for Evan! Mir growled a bit a slammed his tail on the ground.

"Hm? Feel like fighting now?" Luminous laughed. "Sorry, but nothing is that easy." Luminous's orb became a black void of energy and slammed on Mir. Mir let out another loud roar but kept his eye on Evan, whom was clearly responding to Mir's pain.

This was insulting. Not only could Mir not help save the other dragons, he couldn't save his own master! Wasn't Onyx dragons supposed to be powerful?!

Luminous stopped his attack and walked around Mir a bit more, savoring the dragon's misery. "You look a little tied up." He laughed. He gave Mir a kick to the nose and scorned. "I was expecting something a little more from a LIVING dragon. Maybe an egg would have been more useful."

Evan looked up. He could barely see, the pain was at a blinding point. "Mir…" Evan sobbed out.

Luminous turned around and saw Evan trying to crawl his way over. He teleported over to Evan's side and slammed his foot down on his back, "Going somewhere?"

Evan didn't make a sound. He lay there, trying to save his energy to make it over to Mir in time.

"Don't ignore me!" Luminous slammed his foot into the back of the child again. Evan didn't even react.

Luminous picked Evan up by his hair and grabbed his neck. "I've lost all intrest in you and your dragon." He said calmly. "Get out of my sight."

Before Luminous was able to accomplish anything else, a whole array of arrows flew towards the ground. "What?!" Luminous dropped Evan and teleported to a safe distance.

"Evan! Mir" A familiar female voice rung throughout the town. Mercedes glided the wind gracefully to Evan's side. She placed his head on her lap as she tried to talk to him to confirm he was going to be alright. A few of the halfingers showed up and began to pull the chains off of Mir.

Luminous watched from the distance, unspotted by Mercedes. "Evan's one thing, but Mercedes is another." He growled a bit, "Every last target got away…"

The two reaper figures appeared in front of Luminous again and opened the portal up for him. "Oh joy…" he told himself, knowing the Black Mage wouldn't be pleased. "This would be an issue if I was actually trying to please the guy." Luminous told himself as he walked in the portal and vanished from Leafre.


	4. Chapter 4

One loud noise after the other rang through the halls of the Black Mage's headquarters. It was pretty grim, dark, and everything you would expect from such a place. The higher ups practically ran the place, as the Black mage showed little interest in ever leaving his own lab. What he did in there was a mystery, but no one dared to question him about it.

However, this did not mean others could not question things on their own. "So let me get this straight." Damien turned to Hilla, "He hasn't said a single word on this, has he?"

"Not one." Hilla said as she carefully applied lipstick on her face, "He shows little interest in confronting us on the matter."

"Tch, he never makes a deal about his other generals. That I can understand. I wanna know why he dragged someone from the other side over here…" Damien leaned against the wall, "Unless he just has a thing for hiring people that stab him in the back."

"Was that to be a jab at someone?" Hilla chuckled.

Damien stayed quiet and smirked a bit, "Whatever. He can do what he wants. But if that Lumi guys gets in my way for anything, there's gonna be hell to pay. If my brother was good enough to earn his right man hand slot, I don't see why I can't earn it."

"Maybe because you half bake everything?" Hilla waved one of the skeletons holding a mirror away. "I mean, you left others to guard the world tree, and Shinsoo came ba—"

"I can't control who does and doesn't get power, okay?" Damien snapped. "I attacked that dumb beast like it was nothing, even took her down, but some GREATER POWER thought it was okay to give the empress enough power to bring her back. What could I have done?" He sighed, "At least I didn't lose out to some dumb holograms."

"I wasn't SCARED by the holograms." Hilla rolled her eyes, "It was the masses of people. I had been caught red handed and I couldn't expect to fight them all right there."

Damien chuckled as Hilla let out a strong sigh, "Well, at least you're something. Guwaru is pretty much gone, Akarium was stuck in his own bothersome problems, the twins had split their ways, even if it was by some value of force, and Demon? Damien rolled his eyes. He had never seen his bother that weak before. "I don't know why that guy jumped the gun." Damien laughed, "That just leaves me with some chick that's never around, that dragon guy that's never around, and you that only snoops around when something interesting happens."

"I'm ruling a whole town, you can't expect me to leave often." Hilla huffed.

"The only people in your 'town' is dead." Damien looked at her, "You can practically have them do whatever while you're gone."

"Not since Cygnus found out about it!" Hilla whined.

"That's because you were stupid enough to confront her in the first place."

Hilla scoffed at the remark and stood up, "Well, I don't see the point in sticking around if he's just going to swing that fellow in." She ran her hand through her hair and looked at Damien, "Do keep an eye out for him though. I'm sure it's not a dumb action to question his loyality."

"Since when have I been her dog?" Damien huffed out, rolling his eye away from the door. He sat on a nearby chair roughly and stared blankly at the opposing wall, trying to make sense of the current situation. On one hand, it was useful. Luminous was one of the heroes that faced and defeated the Black Mage years ago, so he was hardly a push over… But then again, he was one of the heroes from before. Who was to say he would stay his hand when he needed to? "Whatever." Damien shrugged, "Not my business at the moment."

Deep inside of the base, a cold portal opened up and Luminous walked out. He took a small glance at the area, recognized the environment, then went to a nearby chair and rested there. "I'm going to take it you know I failed?"

The Black Mage was silent for a moment. Luminous saw no reason to provoke a response and simply waited. He had all the time in the world right now.

"Did you?" The Black Mage spoke curiously, "I would assume not, it seemed fairly successful to me."

"So I'm guessing I recklessly destroyed the egg that threatened you?" Luminous questioned.

"To an extent." The Black Mage stopped his experiment, "Dragons are powerful, mythical creatures… destroying even one can be a time saver down the line." He turned around and faced Luminous from the other end of the room, "My goal was to see how you reacted to the Dragon Master…"

Luminous blinked a few times, "So you knew he was there…"

"Do you think I am so careless as to let blind eye pass to the next dragon master?" The Black Mage began to walk by Luminous. "He's nothing like Freud, but he can become just as strong. Just as threatening. I am sure you know exactly what I mean…"

Luminous stared off in the distance… He realized that with him siding with the Black Mage and Freud being dead, no one would know how to reverse the power the Black Mage used against him. None of the others knew the technique. He had started his first step towards a checkmate.

"Let me ask you this…" Luminous huffed, "How long would you guess it would be until your victory over this world?"

The Black Mage let out a cunning laugh. "It may take time. I have to reassemble my forces to prepare for a larger fight this time…" He started to walk back towards his experiment, "And then there is always the issue of… 'that'."

"That?" Luminous's perked his head up.

The Black Mage looked at Luminous. "Yes… Back on that day…" He started off with a huff, "The magic I used before to separate the light from myself was a taboo art. Something to never be used… The effects of it vary, but overall, it went well… until that day."

"You mean the day we beat you?" Luminous laughed with a cocky snark.

The Black Mage stared at Luminous and went back to his personal experiment, "The idea was that I could not interact with my previous light, lest it find a way to attempt to merge again. I sought out its destruction when I discovered it had been converted to a human…"

This was an odd feeling for Luminous. This topic had remained a rather painful one since he discovered his origins, but at the moment, he didn't feel the same usual anger. He didn't feel frustration from it. He didn't feel anything from this topic at all. He felt himself become a bit restless from this fact. Had his body absorbed the darkness that much? So much that at this point, the very few people he openly showed concern for were unable to make him budge?

"I had thought I had eliminated that threat!" the Black Mage's voice raised a bit, "It would have all been over…" He turned back around and looked at Luminous, "But then… you came along… I should have seen it coming since you were a survivor from that horrendous place."

"Are you going to spend all day lecturing me about your feelings or are you going to get to the point?" Luminous barked back.

The Black Mage stood quiet. Not only was Luminous capable of attacking former allies, he clearly was not afraid to talk to the Black Mage like he was some value of an equal. "You know, if anyone else had told me that, I would have them killed…" He walked up and faced Luminous eye to eye, grabbing him by the chin gently, "But you're a special case. Much like my darkness infected you, your light touched upon the surface of my 'heart' as well."

Luminous stared and began to think, "Do you have some light form or something?" He asked.

"Hardly." The Black Mage took a step back and chuckled. "The light in my heart merely weakens my power like the burden it is. I suppose it makes me a bit more… tolerant, much like my former self…"

"Then why not remove it like you did before?" Luminous shrugged.

"It is impossible." The Black Mage scoffed. "You can only split the light and darkness in yourself once. After that, you must seek a new vessel with a stable balance should it re-enter."

Luminous stood up, "You're not planning on using my body, are you?"

The Black Mage laughed, "Use yours? Child, your body is just as unstable as mine, if not worse. I've no desire for your own." He ran his cold thumb down the side of Luminous's face, "Even though I must admit, you do clearly take after my younger days… especially like this."

Luminous whipped his hand off from the side of his face and glared, "Rather dangerous to touch me after your little story, isn't it?"

"Ah, I wouldn't worry. The darkness inside of you has grown large enough to make what little light remains harmless. It is impossible to remove for you, but shrinking it down can work just as effectively."

Luminous felt the unrest again. He was speaking with the Black Mage casually. The man that killed thousands, including Lucia. The man that threatened the entire world. The biggest threat and he was talking to him casually.

No… not just talking with him. He was working with him. He had fought Evan, injured Mir and terrorized innocent lives… And he didn't feel any guilt. He almost felt excited by it.

He took a step back and another. He repeated it until he hit against a wall and sunk to the ground, covering his eyes and taking deep breaths. Everything was finally starting to settle in on him. The Black Mage wasn't trying to persuade him to feel in any manner, he felt it himself.

"Take your time. This will probably be common at first." The Black Mage remarked as he walked back over to his experimental spell. "Once perfect, this spell should be easy enough for you to learn." He spoke loudly, "I am going to put high hopes in you…"

Luminous didn't even hear his words. He took deep breaths as he tried to calm the fiery burning in his chest.

The breaths died down into small chuckles of laughter. He was gone. The darkness had grabbed him firmly this time and there was no escape or way out. Not even Vieren would be of any help. This was his new fate.

Once the laughter calmed into a small silence, The Black mage faced Luminous once again, "So you will be staying?"

"Of course." Luminous stood up, "I am not foolish. Do you honestly believe I would work on the other side like this? A creature of power of destruction?"

"Hardly. They're rather peaceful…"

"But…" Luminous started, "Do not think for one second that I am loyal to you. I will obey you until I get what I want."

The Black Mage walked up to Luminous and looked down on him. The man's eyes were just as serious as before, but destruction and wrath whirled on the inside, smouldering out any visible traits of morals or kindness. "Very well…" the Black Mage laid his hand on top of Luminous, "Do behave yourself though… Behind these lines, you may find those that are rather… disagreeable with that logic…"

"I do not have any reason for concern." Luminous slapped his hand off and began to walk out of the room, "Only call me when it is necessary. I prefer to avoid idle chat like this."

The Black Mage watched Luminous leave. He stood for a moment to himself and let out a slight chuckle. "What a fool… he must think he is really special if he thinks he can defeat me…" He looked back at his experiment, "But while he is dangerous on my side, he's much more dangerous on their side." He glanced at his hand, "If that light had impacted me anymore than it would have, I would have lost my way." He flipped a page in his book, "But no matter… So long as he stays here, I can keep him right under my finger and out of my way… Nothing will stop me this time…"


	5. Chapter 5

A small amount of time passed by for the heroes. They tended to Evan and Mir's injuries, gathering up as much information as possible.

"Are you sure Evan isn't just… suffering from post-trauma?" Phantom asked Mercedes for the sixth time. "I mean, I can't picture Luminous doing something THIS extreme, darkness or not."

"You cannot judge that." Mercedes sighed, " We don't know anything right now except that Evan was badly hurt. Currently he is only claiming it "looked" like Luminous, but he did note a few key differences."

"Such as?" Phantom asked.

"Well for starters, this one had black hair. So unless Luminous decided to dye his hair…"

Phantom chuckled, "Of all people, I doubt he would be one to DYE his hair…"

Mercedes shrugged a bit, "Yes, but we can't just rule out it's not him either. Evan seems to be highly bent on this as fact."

"And you didn't see him either, did you?"

Mercedes sat down and closed her eyes, trying to think back on her encounter with the figure. "I can confirm they were indeed wearing black clothing and had black hair. That was as much as I could see."

Phantom stayed quiet. A part of him hoped… no… prayed that this was just a coincidence. His mind flashed back to Luminous getting captured by the Black Mage in Ereve and how Phantom was just an arm's reach away from helping him, but he couldn't. He turned around and stepped outside for a bit, trying to prepare himself for the worst.

"Honestly, at this point, why do people even try to seek me for protection? I can protect gems and gold no problem…" He muttered to himself as he pulled a gold coin out of his pocket, "But people? Bah… I haven't been able to protect a single one!" He clutched the coin tightly and threw it into a mass of greenery. "Honestly, I don't understand… I should be able to at LEAST protect SOMEONE." He leaned against a tree and thought of all the people he had lost in the past from his own incompetence.

Honestly, this was getting a little old… painfully old.

It was odd how he was caring over this so much. He was a thief, by no means a saviour… But it was always those little pockets of people that seemed to fill his life up with so much life and warmth that made him feel like an actual person, not just some trophy child or some mythical legend.

Was it really too much to ask for him to keep these people safe? He didn't feel like getting an answer to that question at the moment…

For Luminous though, the days were rather quiet. Many times he would be seen simply sitting around, doing nothing for hours, almost appearing as if he were dead. Any approach to him in this state was usually met with sinister glares or vile attacks. It was safe to say a few disposable lackeys had never been heard from again after trying to engage in conversation or relay a message to him.

"I don't get it." Damien sighed. "This guy comes over to our side and sits around all day and that's an okay thing to do?"

Akarium kept his head in his book.

"Hey pal, don't ignore me." Damien slammed his foot on the table, "Or do you want me to leave some holes in your head?"

Akarium looked up and rolled his eyes, "Just because you were fortunate enough to pull me out of my loop doesn't mean you did it all by yourself. Don't get cocky. I could easily take you out in a matter of minutes."

Damien laughed, "Yeah, says the guy that was dumb enough to work himself into a paradox."

Akarium growled slightly. Although he was spared his inevitable death, he really did not like Damien much at all. At least Demon was a bit more mature and modest in personality. Damien was just a punk.

"If the master sees it fit, then so be it…" He spoke calmly. He was not about to be one to defy the Black Mage's will, even if it was over something trivial.

Damien rolled his eye around the room, "Everyone knows you're just saying that to stay on his favourite list. You want to be his right hand man, we get it. I'm not asking for a display of loyalty here, just an honest opinion."

Akarium sighed and let out a soft grumble. "If you must know my HONEST opinion on the matter," he spoke in a frustrated manner, "I think it is a bit of an odd idea. He not only chose one of the mages that sealed him, but he chose the one that he apparently 'corrupted'. I'm guessing it has something to do with that but that's none of my concern…"

Damien chuckled a bit, "So you think it's a bad idea too?"

Akarium's jaw dropped quickly, "I never said that! Don't put senseless words into my mouth!"

"Either way…" Damien looked at Akarium, "It's kind of clear that we need to keep an eye out for him. We can't let him jeopardize everything we've done, now can we?"

Akarium wasn't going to disagree with THAT. Even he had given up quite a bit, so to see someone that was a rival come in as an ally to ruin it all was the last thing he desired. "Well you've got your answer, now leave me be! Some of us are diligently studying here!"

Damien chuckled and walked out of the room, leaving himself to wonder about this new "ally". He wasn't looking into trustworthiness out of him… No, that'd be asking for too much. A good show would be good enough for him though.

Meanwhile in a small room, Luminous had locked himself in entirely. It was a surreal experience. He could feel the darkness inside of him screeching loudly and shaking him to the core. He felt like he should fight against it, try to go back to the way he was, but he found himself paralysed to do so. Did he want this?

Deep breaths were heard with a small amount of laughter every so often. Anyone seeing the man would describe it as miserable.

Luminous wasn't sure of anything right now. Was he really okay with this? He didn't want this to happen, but he wasn't fighting it right now. He didn't want to attack Evan, but he did anyway. Just what was he seeking right now out of all of this?

The Black Mage claimed he was just as power hungry as he was, but Luminous couldn't accept that. No… Not after all those years of peace with Lania. He was happiest when he was at rest like that. Those days gave him back the joy that he felt when he was younger. He had it torn from underneath him when the Black Mage attacked, but he was able to get it back! The only reason he kept fighting was so that he could have those days back.

He didn't want to fight. He barely wanted to be a hero. He just wanted to do the right thing and live his life in peace, was that too much to ask for?

As he finished this thinking, he felt the darkness slip another thought into his head. What good would it do if you lived with a bunch of worms? He was clearly above them all! With enough work, eh could go above the Black Mage, a very god… Luminous was that strong and held that potential. If he could stand above a god, what could stop him then? He could have everything he ever wanted after that!

Luminous grabbed his chest and let out a sinister chuckle. "Hehehe… I don't see why either one of them matter." He choked out, "Right now I'm just a puppet on a string. It doesn't do me any good to think like that."

He stood up and held his head low, looking to the floor. "But I believe I still remember what Freud did all those years ago to seal the Black Mage up… If I can replicate it, I can tear these damn strings off!" His voice was almost a clear shout at the end when he broke out into laughter.

He had a clear goal in mind now. He just needed to get a few vital parts first…


	6. Chapter 6

_**While author notes are abnormal for me, I feel this may be required of me, given my slow update pace. I would like to take a brief moment to explain why updating takes a while. If you honestly do not care, feel free to scroll down past the bold text, you will not miss anything important.**_

_**Simply put, my stories write themselves. I only sit down and say "You know what would be a great idea?" and write it. I have no idea where the plot will go or what it will be doing. Which is why sometimes it takes me awhile… that and I end up writing a lot of one shots. I may upload one here shortly, people seemed to like it.**_

_**But I apologize if this seems slow. I understand from given reviews that this fanfic is well received for its content, but not so much for its update timing. Rest assured though, I will finish this because it has Luminous and I like Luminous.**_

The first step in Luminous's plan was to find the materials needed to recreate the seal… Only not. He was not blind enough to think the exact same plan would work twice. It had to be thought out carefully, in a manner which was different, yet the same.

"Now where would I begin with this?" Luminous thought to himself. He would need Rhinne, of course, but it was far too early to turn to her. He did not exactly know where she was, save that Temple of Time paradox mess… honestly he really did not feel like digging into that.

But alas, if he had to, he would not hesitate. The mere thought of what could be excited him, but he had to stay calm. After all, he was still beneath the Black Mage, much to his dismay.

How foolish it was for him to think that such a man could be defeated? It was not enough to simply "beat" him. He would simply come back. Luminous had his own eyes opened to the terrors that this man could bring.

But even then, he felt it was for a waste? The man wanted to rule the world with his own hand… Such a task… it would be impossible, even for one like him. The world is far too large for such a thing… However, to simply tear it down to nothing… That would be easy. He could just raid an attack, let them recoup, and just when they think they have a chance, start all over again. He knew the best way to show your power was to show the opponent that they never had a chance…

But Luminous quickly stopped. This was his thinking? His thoughts? Was he really planning this all out? Surely, the darkness in him had grown, but to the point where he thought so little of others that he thought of them as mere toys for entertainment?

He shook his head, "Not right now." He told himself, "I am getting much too far ahead of myself…" He looked dead ahead, wondering what to do with himself. On one hand, he understood that with the Black Mage's power, he was stronger than the average mage. Stronger than the average fighter. he could probably kill a novice with ease. On the other hand, his old morals still stood firm ground. The very fundamental morals that he could not shake off. These were the things that made Luminous who he was, and it still shaped him here, right?

He thought back to his past actions. He had clearly made an attack on Evan and Mir, one that would last a good while. A demonic grin climbed up his face, "I suppose there's no point in standing around. A path has already been selected." he told himself.

A small click was heard as a door opened, with Damien walking into the room. He looked up and saw Luminous standing and staring at him, like some psychotic monster that would snap at any second. But Damien was used to such people. Demons had hard lives too, you know? "Well… look who finally showed up." He remarked calmly. He walked into the room, refusing to let eye contact leave Luminous. He may not be scared of him, but he was not about to risk any chances of being attacked.

"Heh…" Luminous's face twisted into some sadistic grin of pleasure, "I suppose you must be new. I do not recall seeing your face in the past."

"Sort of." Damien sighed, "My brother was here, but we tend to not talk about him these days."

"Heh, you mean Demon?" Luminous laughed.

Damien sighed, "Yeah… that. I have my reasons of ignoring him these days, but his role here is probably the only reason I still got in."

There was an odd silence in the room. Neither seemed intrested in carrying that conversation, but what else was there really to talk about? "Well…" Damien started to walk again, "I suppose I'll be on my way, but make no mistakes, everyone is watching you here."

"Then let them watch." Luminous laughed, "It isn't like they will be able to do much, anyway."

Damien winced a bit at the latter remark. Something about it… felt… off. But he would have to look into it later, preferably when Luminous was not aware of his presence.

Akarium had taken the questioning upon himself. The only other one effective at this would be Hilla… And we all know she only showed interest in confrontation if there was something in it for her.

Not exactly ideal at the moment…

Akarium walked up to the door of the "throne room" where the Black Mage seemed to stay a lot these days. He knew there was a large magic inside that allowed him to overlook things over Mapleworld, even at his own door. It was just a matter of if the door would open or not…

Standing for a moment, his snake slithered around and rested its head on top of Akarium's. "Not now!" He waved his staff, "I have to look proper for the Black Mage, not like a bumbling idiot!"

The doors slowly opened.

Akarium stood straight, with his snake giving its calmest yet menacing look. Akarium slowly walked in, for the doors to shut slowly behind him.

Honestly, it never helped that walking to speak with the man was a task on its own… It always felt like you were in trouble for something, even if you were the one calling him.

"Akarium… What is the need for this audience?" The Black Mage spoke calmly.

Akarium cleared his throat, "Well… I was curious to some rather odd changes that has occurred here as of late…"

"Changes?" The Black Mage spoke calmly. The Black Mage turned around and faced the older man, "Do you mean the one I brought in?"

"Ahh… Yes… Luminous, was it?" Akarium squirmed, "I was wondering if I could be graced with the reasoning behind such an action. He was our foe in the past, and should still be treated as such, at least by my personal take on the matter."

The Black Mage looked up and back to Akarium, "There is no need for worry. I simply wanted him under careful watch."

"Watch? Would it not be easier to place him in a dungeon?" Akarium asked, "Call me old fashioned, but usually it was the hassle free way…"

The Black Mage chuckled a bit, "Akarium… You've been loyal to me this whole time, so I doubt you are judging my actions."

Akarium stiffed, "N-Never! You were kind enough to hand me what I desired! Unlike that other that placed herself on your level…"

The Black Mage turned back, "I see… It is simply best to keep him under our watch, and I figured he could help lay some foundation for our progress." He waved his hand over the magical orb letting him see different views of Maple World, "For you see, it is not easy for some of our stronger threats to hurt him."

Akarium pondered for a moment. Was it because he was originally on their side? Pity perhaps? Whatever the reason was, the Black Mage seemed fairly confident in it. "I understand." Akarium spoke, "But do you think it would be best to keep an eye out for an odd behaviors?"

The Black Mage turned to Akarium, "Hmm… I suppose that is an area of… concern." The Black Mage spoke in an ominous tone, almost as if he were expecting 'odd behaviours' to occur. "I shall assign his monitoring to you."

Akarium flinched back. "M..Me?!"

The Black Mage went back to his orb, "I do not see a problem. You are a wise man. Surely you know a thing or two about odd behaviour."

Akarium sighed internally, "Yes, but I'm not exactly a people person." His snake slightly tapping him on the head.

The Black Mage shook his head, "I doubt he will want much to do with you. Now… If I may be excused…"

Akarium took a bow and slowly walked out. The doors opened and shut for him once more. On the other side of the door, Akarium's snake moved in front of his face and made a silly grin.

"Bah! This is awful!" Akarium sighed, "I cannot be expected to watch someone like him."

Akarium muffled and grumbled a bit as he walked around, hoping to find Luminous and address the new situation to him. Using his snakes to help out, Akarium found him resting in the middle of the hall.

"Honestly, if you're going to work with us, have SOME class. We already have Demon's brother running around like a brat." Akarium spoke loudly, hoping he would wake up.

His eyes did not struggle to open, but opened very calmly, stopping half way. His gaze drew up towards Akarium's face, and he could only feel the chill coming from Luminous. Perhaps this was the moment he came to realize that the man in front of him was nothing like the man he fought years ago.

"So apparently, I've been given the task of ensuring your stay here is… comfortable." Akarium spoke, trying to be subtle on the fact that Luminous would be watched. He was a master of lying and could easily manipulate his words to tell the truth and sound pleasant at the same time. "So I figure it would be best to take you to an actual room."

Luminous quickly rose up and looked at Akarium. He looked around and noted the amount of snake servants around, then back to Akarium. "Oh, I think I want to go somewhere else first."

Akarium flinched back a bit. Where else could this man want to go? He was just sleeping in the hall! "Where? The bathroom?" Akarium asked.

Luminous thought carefully. To bluntly ask for information at this point, he would easily be called out and stopped. But if he played along like a good little servant, maybe he could win a few allies before making his first move. "I am interested in enhancing my powers. Any place I can do that?"

Akarium sighed, grateful it wasn't anything too dangerous like going to see the Black Mage. "Very well… I know just the place." Akarium started to walk, "Try to stay behind me, my old bones don't run as fast as they used to."


End file.
